Known washing machines use various methods for washing clothes loads but, in general, all methods utilize varying amounts of mechanical, chemical, and thermal energy to remove soil from the fabric of the clothing. Many machines employ an agitator that is mounted on a vertical axis and driven in an oscillatory fashion to agitate the clothes load in the presence of detergent solution. After a predetermined period of agitation, the wash cycle is typically followed by a rinse cycle. The central agitators of known washing machines are often provided with chambers on reservoirs into which wash additives may be introduced. The wash additives are then, at the appropriate times, dispensed into the wash load.
Although most modern washing machines use centrally located agitators, it has also been known in the part to provide alternative agitating arrangements, often in the form of fins on the side of a wash basket or wash tub. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,634,238 to Sinclair, 2,516,655 to Smith, and 2,930,216 to Cazzaniga are exemplary of such arrangements.
The above-described washing machines present several disadvantages. For example, central-agitator washing machines tend to exhibit a high degree of mechanical abrasion of clothes. Furthermore, the mechanical action produced by central-agitators often results in tangling of the clothes.
Known washing machines lacking central-agitators present their own disadvantages. Such machines fail to provide any automatic mechanism for dispensing wash additives, and lack effective mechanisms for introducing wash fluids into the wash load.